Muse
by OmissionSoul
Summary: A late night incident, causes two unlikely individuals paths to cross one another.
1. Chapter 1

It's the middle of the week, a hump day morning, where we are tasked with with having to paint something that inspires us in my 11th grade art class. So I paint the most inspiring thing among man. Two pairs of giant melons that, may, or may not, look like that of a woman's wondrous bosom. I lean over to my fellow man friend Stan, whom I share art with, and ask him what his opinion is on this masterpiece that I am creating.

He glances at my masterpiece and then rolls his eyes at me, "Kenny, dude, another pair of boobs really?"

"It's melons, not boobs," I tell him.

"It's boobs," he states.

"It's art," I correct, and he rolls his eyes once more and goes back to working on his painting.

I look around the class to see what others are working on. My gaze lands on a very peculiar looking piece of art that has an array of colors being sectioned off by big bold black strokes. It's interesting looking, almost, Picasso like. I look to see that the one painting it is Tweek.

I'm a bit surprised to see that he's the one who painted it, but even more surprised by how calm his demeanor seems to be while painting it. And I wonder for a moment, if that is really even Tweek. The bell rings, signaling the end of class and I hear a sudden, ' _Gah!'_ come out, followed by the usual twitching and conclude, that yes, that is indeed Tweek.

...

Later, long after the school day is over, I find myself sitting in a corner booth near the back at Tweek Bros. Coffeehouse. One, being that I needed somewhere quiet to study for this dumb upcoming English test and home isn't exactly peaceful, two, it has free wifi that I can use on my cheap ass cellphone, and three, well, because it's warm here, real nice and toasty.

I continue studying while listening to some music with my headphones in, I glance up at some point to see that I'm pretty much the last one here, aside from Tweek working on a lone shift tonight. I look at the time, see how late it is and decide to head out in five minutes, so that Tweek can close up shop; and so that he doesn't have to ask me to leave, talking to people always seems to make him antsy for some reason.

I notice a customer walk in inbetween my writing notes and doodling. At first glance I pay no mind to them, but then I look again and something seems a bit off about this customer, this, guy. It's not the way he's dressed but how he's acting. He doesn't seem to notice me and I see him talk to Tweek, order something, and then when Tweek goes to make it, I think I see him slip something into Tweek's drink that is set off to the side. Tweek turns back around and hands the guy his order, a drink, he says something more and I see Tweek pick up his drink and take a sip out of it.

I immediately stand up, "Tweek- don't!" I shout.

The guy quickly looks over at me, just now noticing my presence and takes off running out the door. I go over to Tweek by the counter and he looks at me confused.

"W-What is it?" he asks.

"That guy, I think that, I saw him slip something into your drink," I tell him.

"Huh!? R-Really!?" he exclaims looking at his drink.

"Yeah, how do you feel?" I ask a bit concerned.

"I feel fine r-right now," he replies twitching a bit.

"I see... Well hopefully I was only seeing things," although I know the guy shouldn't have runaway then if that was the case, "do you want a ride?" I decide to offer.

"Ngh-w-what!?" he squeaks at my sudden offer.

"Home," I add, "do you want a ride home?"

"Oh, um, n-no thank you, I'm good."

"Alright..." I say, but still feel a bit concerned.

I go over to collect my stuff at the booth I was sitting at, and just as I toss my bag over my shoulder; I look back to see Tweek fall down. "Tweek!" I shout, dropping my bag and running over to check on him. I see him lying passed out on the floor and jump over the counter to get to him. "Hey, hang in there!" I place a hand on his cheek then his forehead and feel him burning up, "Shit-what do I do?" I say aloud to myself.

Without thinking much more, I lift him up over my shoulder and carry him to my truck. I place him into the passenger side and buckle him in. I then go back into the shop and grab my bag. I look around the shop and find a a pair of keys, I decide that since Tweek can't really lock up, that I'll do it for him. I turn off the lights, lock the shop up, and head back to my truck. I get in, start it, and take off.

In a hurry, I end up taking him back to my place after realizing I don't know where he lives. I get out of the truck and go over to his side and carry him on my back this time. I open the door to my house, and see that mom and dad have passed out drunk again; thankfully, so I won't have to explain myself to them, I make my way to my room.

I place Tweek down onto my bed and go to get a cold cloth and water. I come back and place the cold cloth on his head. He moves around a bit and opens his eyes slightly.

"Kenny...?" he mumbles.

"Hey, yeah it's me, how are you feeling?" I ask, and he murmurs an incoherent response.

I pick up the cloth and go to rise it in cold water, when I get back I see Tweek sitting up with his shirt gone and he pants almost all the way off.

"Whoa- hey, what are you doing?!" I go over to him and try and lie him back down, but he keeps trying to get back up to remove his pants. "Tweek! Leave your pants on!" I yell at him.

"Too hot..." he mutters out.

"I don't care, leave your damn pants on!" I tell him and the next thing I know, he topples onto me, "What the hell did that guy slip into you drink?" I mumble trying to move Tweek back onto the bed.

It takes some effort and he loses his pants somehow along the way, but, I manage to get him back into bed. He lies on his back and seems to have settled down, so I pull the bed sheet over him and put the cold cloth back on his head. I let out a sigh and take my coat off, propping it under my head. I close my eyes and try my best to get some rest.

Morning comes and I'm sore all over from sleeping on the ground. I look over at my bed and see that Tweek is still asleep, the cloth that was on his head has fallen to the side now. I place a hand on his forehead and his temperature feels more normal now. I get up and head off to the kitchen to look for some food. After I find half a pop-tart to eat, I head back to my room, I sit down and take my cellphone out of my coat pocket checking for messages.

"Nngh," I look up and see Tweek moving around. He opens his eyes, looks around and then looks at me. "Kenny?" he mumbles.

I smile, "Good morning sleeping beauty."

"Where am I?" he asks.

"In my room."

He starts to sit up a bit and places a hand to his head. "...Why?" he asks and then notices his clothes are missing, "Wait- w-where are my clothes?!" he wraps the bed sheet around himself tightly, "Why am I n-naked?!" he shrieks and looks at me accusingly; which I find to be just a tad bit offensive.

"Whoa, calm down, I didn't do anything to you I swear." I say putting my hands up in defense. He looks at me suspiciously, " Look, last night at the coffee shop when I was getting ready to leave, you passed out. I think that guy must have slipped something in your drink. I went over to check on you and you were burning up pretty bad. I didn't really know what to do, so I brought you here, back to my place because I didn't know where you lived. And then you suddenly turned into a stripper and started to remove your clothes because you said you were too hot. I tried to stop you but you were really determined to take your clothes off."

He continues eyeing me suspiciously for a bit but seems to relax his shoulders slightly. "So, you didn't do anything _weird_ to me then?"

"Nope. I didn't do any funny business to you," I reply, "all I did was bring you here and put a cold cloth on your head and cover you with that sheet," I point to a pile of clothing next to the bed, "your clothes are right there," he looks down over at them, "do you not remember any of it?"

He shakes his head, "Not really."

I cross my arms and recall what had happened last night, "I wonder what that guy was after," I think aloud.

Tweek's brows furrow a bit, "Yeah..."

"Maybe it was the cash in the register?" I ponder.

He nods his head a bit, "Maybe."

I look at him, "Or maybe it was you?"

His eyes widen, "Oh, J-Jesus-what!?" he exclaims.

I shrug, "I don't know, just thinking aloud," I notice him begin to twitch quite a bit at that and I go back to what I had said before, in an attempt to ease his mind, "nah, it was probably the cash he was after, the guy probably just wanted you out of the way with for a bit."

He seems to calm down for all of a split second before his eyes widen yet again, "Oh- god, the shop! I didn't lock up!"

I let out a small laugh, "Don't worry, I locked it up for you last night before bringing you here."

"You did?" he asks surprised.

"Yup," I grin.

"Oh- uh, thanks," he replies sheepishly. A look like he just realized something else appears on his face, "Wait-what time is it?!"

I look at the time on my cellphone. "Uh, 8:45am"

"Gah!" he leans forward a bit pulling at his hair, "Oh no- I'm late for school! So late!"

"Relax dude, it's only the first period, and there wasn't really anything you could do-"

"You don't understand! I need to do well! I can't risk having t-tardy grades!" He yells.

"Why-" I go to ask but am cut off.

"Can you drive me to school now!?" he asks lurching forward and grabbing on to my shirt, looking right at me.

The sudden action catches me off guard, "S-Sure?" I respond a bit confused and he let's go.

"Thanks," he sighs out and then stares at me.

"What?" I ask.

He's quiet for a couple of seconds before responding, "Um, can you... leave so I can change?"

I stare at him for a moment, then laugh a bit and get up grabbing my coat as I leave my room. "I'll meet you outside in my truck then," I say before closing the door behind me.

He's ready about five minutes later and I start the truck and head for the school. We arrive in time for second period. Tweek goes to get out of the truck but I remember something and stop him, "Wait a second," he looks at me, "here," I hand him the coffee shop's keys, "wouldn't want to forget these," I smile.

"Oh, right..." he replies taking them from my hand, "thanks."

And with that, he turns and heads out of the truck, closing the door behind him and running to the school's entrance. I lean over and pick up my bag that I had left in the truck over night and exit with it, also making my way to the entrance. The rest of the morning passes by like normal, lunch time rolls around and I'm sitting with my usual group of friends, Stan, Kyle and Cartman.

"Hey Kenny, where were you for first today?" Stan asks.

"I uh, slept in a bit," I tell him.

"Really? Huh, Kyle said he saw you arrive here with Tweek," Stan says.

Kyle nods his head confirming what Stan said, "Yeah, what was that about?"

"Oh that, I gave him a lift here when I passed him on the way to school. He overslept too it seems," I lie, figuring Tweek probably wouldn't really want me telling what actually happened last night. No need for that kid to start freaking out about more stuff _._

"Suuuuure Kinny, that's what you want us to believe," Cartman says.

"What's that suppose to mean?" I say looking at Cartman now.

"You just 'happen' to come across him on the way here, I'm sure that's all it was," he says, and I roll my eyes at him.

"Well unlike you, Kenny is actually a decent human being, so I believe him," Kyle says taking a bite out of one of his school lunch french fries.

"Of course you would, Jew," Cartman sneers, and Kyle returns it with a scowl, "I'm just saying that it's a bit strange that you and Tweek happen to both be 'late' on the same day at the same time is all."

I give him an unamused look then take one of Kyle's fries, dip it in ketchup, and toss it at Cartman, it hits his forehead.

"OI!" he shouts.

"Sorry it slipped," I tell him and go about eating my own lunch.

Kyle and Stan start laughing and Cartman proceeds to go on a five minute rant about it. At some point going on to say, how he's now contaminated by poor and Jew germs, to which ends up resulting in an empty chocolate milk bottle being thrown at him from Kyle, thus their usual arguing ensues. To at which point, I decide it best to leave and go do something else.

...

The following day, all seems like it has returned to normal once again. I however, find myself looking at what Tweek's working on again in art class. This time though, when I take a look at it I can see him fidgeting a bit and every so often I think I see him glance over and look at me. When class ends I decide to go over to ask him if he's alright, but when he sees me approaching him; he makes a loud disgruntled sound and rushes off so fast, that he turned into the flash for a split moment of time.

When lunch comes around today I decide to take a walk around the school, no real reason other than I just feel like it. I walk down one of the hallways and hear something, it sounds like music, piano music. I reach a room, the music room, where the piano music is coming from and look in. There I see sitting at the piano, is Tweek.

I watch him play, his demeanor is once again very calm like it was before in art class that day. His eyes appear to be closed, almost as if he's envisioning something while playing. Something about this all seems so awe inspiring in a way. The song ends and I clap my hands. The sudden clapping seems to catch him off guard a bit as I see him jump right up out of his seat.

"W-what are you doing here?!" he exclaims.

"I was just passing by when I heard such nice music playing, so I decided to pop in and see who it was," I tell him grinning, "you're really good you know that?"

He averts his gaze slightly, "...I don't really think so," he mumbles.

"What?!" I exclaim in disbelief, and he looks right at me flinching a bit at the sudden raise in my voice, "You gotta be kidding me! Dude- that was awesome! You were like that deaf dude reincarnated, what's his name again? Beeftoven?"

"Beethoven?" he suggests.

"Yeah him! You were like him reincarnated just now," I say and look at him, "heck, you even sort of have the look for it too."

He tugs at his hair slightly and shifts a bit like he's unsure of something. "Um," he starts, "would you be able to come by my house tomorrow?"

"Your house?" I repeat back curiously.

"Yeah, I uh, wanted to give you a thank you gift for helping me out the other day. But it's um, not ready just yet," he tells me.

"Oh, you didn't need to do that. It's just common sense to want to help out someone in trouble," I say.

"I know but..." he trails off, the expression on his face faltering a bit.

I stare at him for a few seconds, "But you went through the trouble of getting something for me, so it's a bit rude of me to turn it down," he looks up at me, "so uh, where do you live? I don't really know your exact home address."

And for a moment I think I see a faint smile appear on his face mixed in with what seems to be relief. He looks around the room and spots a piece of paper with music on it, he flips it over to a blank side and reaches into his pocket taking out a small pen. He writes on the paper then folds it up and hands it to me.

"Here," he says.

I take the piece of folded paper, "What time should I come by?" I ask.

"Um, between noon and one," he says.

The lunch bell rings and he let's out a small sound before rushing off to his next class. I stand there and look down at the piece of folded paper in my hand. I unfold it and look at the address written on it, then flip the paper over and look at the music notes and see at the top of the page in bold letters, **Moonlight Sonata** ,and I wonder vaguely if it was really ok for him to have written on this. I shrug and refold the paper putting it into my pocket and heading off to my next class.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Saturday, rolls around and I wake up around 11:50am, a quick flashback of my conversation with Tweek yesterday runs through my mind, and I groggily get up and out of bed. I throw on a pair of old worn out jeans and a black t-shirt that's two or three sizes to big for me, and then try my best to tame my messy bed head with cowlicks sticking up in every which way off of my head.

I manage to get most of my hair under control, except for one strand on the top of my head. I glare at it in the mirror briefly before shrugging in defeat and go to put my coat on. I put my hood up and head out the door.

I arrive at the address that's written on the piece of paper a short while later and look out my truck window, "Guess this is the place," I think aloud.

I exit my truck and walk to the front door and ring the doorbell. As I wait I think that I hear what sounds like a loud thud, like something falling, then a couple of seconds later the door opens. Tweek stands there. He doesn't say anything right away but fidgets a bit.

"You're here!" he says surprised.

"Yeah, you said between noon and one didn't you?" I reply, "Or do you want me to come back later?"

"N-no! It's fine, you're right, I said that!" he exclaims, "Come in," he motions for me and moves aside.

I walk into the house and am instantly hit with the overwhelming sent of coffee, like that of the shop that he and his parents run. I move aside so he can close the door and take my boots off and pull down my hood. Tweek locks the door and looks back at me, his gaze is instantly drawn to the top of my head. I know what he's staring at, that strand of hair sticking up right. That one, lone, defiant, strand of hair that refuses to succumb to the laws of physics and stay down on my head.

"It doesn't like to be stared at," I tell him.

His gaze quickly turns away and he heads towards the stairs awkwardly. "Um, you can come up if you want, I was actually just finishing up the gift I wanted to give you before you arrived."

I arch an eyebrow, "Finishing up?"

"Yeah," he stops walking up on the third step and faces me a bit, "it's almost done, so you can come up to my room and wait a bit if you want to," he tells me then points to the first step, "but- nngh- be careful of that first step, it's slippery," he narrows his eyes at it then turns back around and heads up the stairs.

I stand there for a moment and look at him going up, then the step he pointed to, a thought comes to mind but I shake my head and follow after him up the stairs. When I get upstairs there's a door open to a room, I walk to it and see that Tweek is already sitting down inside at a desk. I enter the room and see a bunch of stuff all over the place. A half made bed, posters of various things, sports, animals, music and clothes scattered about here and there. I'm surprised that I can even see the carpet flooring at all. I know my room's a bit messy also but Tweek's room compared to mine looks like a hurricane went through it. Although with how he acts, I feel that I shouldn't be that surprised by it.

"Sorry for the mess," he says quietly with his back to me.

"It's fine," I reply and briefly wonder if he had just somehow magically read my mind.

I slowly walk around his room, looking at other various things in it. I spot a few books on art and pick one up. I go and sit on the corner of his bed and skim through it. I realize it's not just about painting art but a wide range of the arts, acting, dancing, cooking, music. Something slips out from one of the pages and lands on the floor, I pick it up and see that it's a few pages of music sheets that look like they were written by hand. One of the sheets only having half the page with written notes on it.

"Ok it's-" Tweek turns around saying but as soon as he spots the music sheets in my hands, he rushes forward and snatches them out of my hands, then grabs the arts book and put them back into it. He looks at me not quite angry but more so worried or afraid.

"Sorry, I didn't know that book had anything in it..." I apologize, although I probably shouldn't have been snooping around in the first place.

He closes his eyes and shakes his head bit, "No, I'm sorry, I kind of over reacted a bit just now... I uh, just tend to get a bit over rash when it comes to these sort of things I guess," he tells me letting out a sigh.

He walks over to a bookshelf and places the book in it, then walks back over to the desk and picks up something and then walks back over to me and holds out a closed hand, I place a hand under his and he places something in it. He moves his hand away and I see it's a keychain, with what looks to be a charm attached to it of a gnome with underwear on it and a four-leaf clover like background behind it in a circle.

"It's a ward off charm, to keep away underpants gnomes from stealing your underwear," he explains.

I look at it for a few more seconds, "Uh, thanks?" I reply a bit confused by the bizarre gift. I offer a small smile to him and he returns one faintly.

My stomach suddenly growls loudly, and I remember that I haven't eaten yet. "Are you hungry?" he asks.

"No, not really," I lie, to which my stomach growls again even louder in protest to. And I pretend to ignore it.

Tweek chuckles, "It's ok if you are, come down stairs and get something to eat," he says walking towards the doorway, "come on," he motions with his hand and rounds the corner. I stand up and look once more at the peculiar charm in my hand then put it in my pocket and head down stairs also.

When I get down stairs, I see that Tweek is in the kitchen and I walk over to him.

"You can choose whatever you feel like," he says pouring himself some coffee. He notices me looking at it and offers me some, but I shake my head. I walk to a cupboard and look in it. The first thing I see are tins and bags of coffee taking up half the shelves in it, then I spot some canned food.

I take out a canned ravioli, "Can I have this?" I ask.

He looks at it, "Sure," he nods and then turns and searches through a drawer taking out a can opener, then goes over to a lower cupboard and takes out a pot. He reaches a hand out and I hand him the can. He opens it and empties the contents of it into the pot hitting the bottom of the can hard so that all of it comes out, and then turns the stove on.

I glance at the microwave, "Wouldn't it be easier to warm it up in there?" I ask pointing at it.

He looks at it, " I don't trust those..."

"Why?" I ask confused.

He looks at me, "Radiation," he says in a serious tone.

I give back a blank stare, then arch an eyebrow, "Riiiight..."

I decide to turn and head out of the kitchen to look around the dinning room. I spot something I didn't notice before in the far left corner of the room. A bird cage. I walk over to it and notice a big green bird is home to it, a parrot, I stare fascinated. I see Tweek walk out of the kitchen.

"Didn't know you had a parrot," I say.

He walks over to the cage, "Yeah, his name is Mimic," he tells me.

"Mimic?" I repeat.

"I know it sounds kind of dumb, but I got him when I was seven alright?" Tweek mumbles.

"Nah, It's a cute name for him I think," I tell him.

Tweek scratches at his head and tugs a bit at his hair, "Erm, wanna say hi to him?" he asks.

"Sure," I nod.

Tweek opens the cage and slowly reaches in. The parrot looks at his arm then moves sideways onto his forearm. Tweek moves his arm out of the cage and pet's the bird's head with his free hand's index finger.

"Hey Mimic, wanna say hello to our guest here?" Tweek says in a quiet voice, smiling gently at the bird. He moves his arm towards me a bit and the bird looks at me, tilting it's head up at an angle.

I smile at it, "Hello," I say and go to pet it but it moves away and up Tweek's arm onto his shoulder, "guess he doesn't like me," I laugh lightly.

"I think he's just a bit shy because he doesn't know you," Tweek explains.

"Could be," I smile.

The parrot then let's out a loud "Gah!" sound causing Tweek to flinch a bit, followed by a slew of "O-oh Jesus! Nngh! W-what?!" a coffee shop slogan and a few sounds to that of piano notes. Tweek hurriedly puts the parrot back in it's cage as I begin to laugh a bit. He closes the cage and faces towards me but avoids eye contact.

"Hrm, any-anyways, I think your food should just about be done," he says with slightly red cheeks, I guess that the sounds the parrot was mimicking were a bit embarrassing for him. He turns and heads into the kitchen and I follow him.

After I finish up eating, I decide to head back home. I lie on my bed looking up at the ceiling, thinking back on the past few days with the twitchy blonde. I let out a small chuckle and close my eyes smiling to myself.

...

Monday rolls around and on my way to class in the morning I spot Tweek looking up at something on the school bulletin board. He looks distant almost, like he's not here in the real world or something. He turns and heads off to class. Curious, I walk over to the bulletin board to see what he was looking at. The board is covered in flyers, news articles and upcoming events. My gaze lands on a poster.

MUSIC EXTRAVAGANZIGA!

ALL ARE WELCOME!

COME AND JOIN IN THIS YEAR'S MUSIC CONTEST FOR A CHANCE TO WIN $10,000!

EXPRESS YOUR PASSION!

 _A music contest?_ I think and wonder if this is what he was looking at. I think back briefly on seeing him play the piano in the music room and continue reading the poster to see that the contest is on March 31st at 6pm in Denver.

"Denver? That's quite a drive away," I mumble to myself wondering why there would be a poster for that here. Although, I figure in landscape terms, our town is pretty much neighbors to Denver. I shrug, and start heading off to class.

When lunchtime arrives I decide to take a walk around the school. I end up finding myself walking down the hall where the music room is. I look into the room and spot a familiar mess of blond hair sticking out in every which way sitting at the piano. Not playing it, but looking down reading something. I walk into the room.

"Not playing today?" I ask. Tweek's head shoots up and looks at me. As I get closer I can see that he's holding music sheets.

"Oh- I was going to but- I wasn't sure what one I should choose to play," he explains holding up the sheets in his hands a bit.

"Just choose whatever you feel more like playing today," I say.

He looks back down at the papers and frowns, "Hmmm..."

I look around the room,"So, you're allowed to be in here during lunch?"

He nods his head,"The music teacher had caught me playing on the piano one day after class, and said I could use the room if I wanted to play during lunch. She really seemed to have liked how I played, and wanted to encourage me to keep up my creative hobby or something," he explains.

"I see, well, you are pretty good, so I could understand where she's coming from," I tell him, and image of the poster I saw earlier today flashes through my mind briefly, "oh, I saw a poster for an up and coming music contest next month. Are you going to join?"

He stops shifting through the music sheets in his hands, "No," he says it in such a quiet voice, I almost don't hear it.

"Really?" I frown, "But you're really good, you should."

He continues to sit still, unmoving, looking down at the sheets in his hands. A feeling of awkward air starts to fill the room and I press down on one of the piano keys to break the growing silence. Tweek seems to be drawn back to reality as he looks up at my hand pressing down on the key, then up at me.

"Wish I could play," I say smiling a bit, "maybe you could teach me?"

"W-what!? N-no, I would be a terrible teacher," he says shaking his head.

"Come on, I think you'd be a great teacher," I tell him, "scoot over," he looks at me and hesitantly moves over on the bench, I take a seat beside him. "Alright, so what were you planning on playing?"

"I Uh-" he looks down and fumbles through the sheets of music once again.

"How about this one?" I say pulling a random one out of the pile.

He looks at it, "That one might be a bit hard."

I place the sheet on the music stand, "It's fine, I believe in you," I say nodding my head, he let's out a small disgruntled sound and looks down at the piano keys.

He places his hands onto the keys and I copy him. For a while I'm able to keep up with him, until the song picks up pace and I start to lose coordination with both hands playing different notes at once. I decide to just watch him play instead.

It's interesting to watch him play, he seems like a different person almost. I also remember seeing him be very calm while painting too and I wonder to myself, if doing these things is a sort of way to help him stay calm. I watch him play until the end of lunch bell rings. He picks up the music sheets and gets up to leave.

"Would it be ok if I came by and listened to you play every now and then?" I ask.

He looks at me, "Wouldn't you get bored?"

"Nah, I don't think so. Listening to you play helps take my mind off of stuff," I tell him, "so would it be ok?"

He pauses, thinking about it then nods his head a bit, "I guess so, sure."

"Awesome," I grin.

He looks off towards the door, "I uh, need to get going or I'll be late," he tells me.

"Alright, later then," I say.

He offers a lopsided smile to me before heading off. I get up a few seconds later and head off to my own class.

...

A couple of weeks go by and I find myself in the music room listening to Tweek play almost every day. Sometimes I would just sit and listen, other times we would talk and a few times I would bring a sketchbook and doodle in it. I always found that just drawing whatever would help take my mind off of things going on in the real world around me, if only for a little while.

Today I find myself sketching out a familiar face, with unruly hair sitting at a musical instrument. His eyes are closed as he plays like usual, and I try my best to capture his likeness onto the paper. For some reason, I really like the calm demeanor around him as he plays, how laxed he seems than how he usually is, and it makes me want to try capture that calmness down on paper. He finishes playing the song and let's out a slow breath as he opens his eyes.

"I don't think I've ever heard that song before, it was really nice. Is it new?" I ask him.

"Sort of," he says, "I had heard it a little while back and wanted to try and learn it, because I really liked the sound of it."

"Oh cool, what's it called?"

"The Heart Asks Pleasure First," he tells me.

"Nice," I respond, and close my sketchbook. He looks at it.

"What kind of things do you draw?" he asks, "I sometimes see your artworks in class and they look really good; although, most of them are of nude women..."

"You think they're good? Thanks," I grin, "and yeah, most of my art in class tends to be of nude women. There's nothing more beautiful than a woman's wondrous body," I tell him.

Tweek looks down at the piano keys, "I see..." he mumbles, "so you only like drawing nude women?"

"Usually, yeah, but I also like to draw things that inspire me or speak to me in the moment," I explain.

"In the moment?" he asks.

"Yeah, like um, a dog sleeping curled up in a ball, or a person walking out and about with an umbrella in the rain. Things like that," I tell him. He looks at me and tilts his head to the side slightly as if a bit confused. Something about it makes me want to sketch out this motion as well. "Sorry if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Like I said, it's an 'in the moment' kind of thing."

"It's alright, I think I kind of get it," he says smiling a bit.

The end of lunch comes and I get up and make my way to the door. "Well see ya la-"

"Do you want to hang out?!" Tweek blurts out suddenly.

I turn and look at him, "Huh, hangout?" I repeat back.

"Y-yeah, I was wondering if you would want to come over and hangout sometime," he explains sheepishly.

I smile a bit, "Sure, when?"

"Oh, I-I was, thinking on the weekend. I don't know which day yet though..." he tugs at his hair a bit.

"Do you have a cellphone?" I ask, and he nods.

I open up my sketchbook to a blank page and write on it, then tear out the area I wrote on. "Here," I say walking over and handing it to him, "give me a text or call when you work out which day works best for you."

He looks down at it,"O-ok," he replies.

"Well then," I take a few steps back heading towards the door, "I look forward to hearing from you," I tell him, giving a salute and a small wink of the eye, before turning and heading out of the room to my next class.

The end of the school day comes, and by the time I get home there's a new text on my cellphone. _'Is Saturday ok?'_ it reads. I don't recognize the number but I know it's Tweek's based on the question.

 _'Tomorrow? Sure, what time?'_ I reply back.

I think it might take him a while to get back, so I go to put my cellphone down but it buzzes in my hand a few seconds later.

 _'Around 4'_ it reads.

I send a text back saying, _'Alright'_ and place my cellphone down on the the dresser in my room. I take out some more comfortable clothes and change into them.

The rest of the day is spent playing games on my cellphone, and somewhat of an attempt of me trying to do homework and then deciding to go to sleep early.

When I come to hours later, I hear yelling. _Oh great, they're arguing again_ , I think. I pick up my cellphone beside my head and look at the time on it, 12:45am. I let out a groan and close my eyes. But I know I won't be going back to sleep anytime soon. I hear a loud crash, followed by more loud yelling. I then hear my door creak open.

"Kenny?" a small voice asks hesitantly.

"Yeah," I reply.

"I can't sleep, is it alright if I wait in here until they stop?"

I sit up, "Sure," my sister, Karen, walks into the room and closes the door behind her. "I can't sleep either," I tell her.

She walks over and sits down on the side of my bed, "Do you think they'll ever stop fighting all the time?" she asks.

I let out a sigh, "I'm not sure, but we can always hope so," I tell her.

There's another loud crash, like glass shattering, followed by a string of swears. Karen pulls her knees up to her chest. I know that she is afraid, afraid of what could happen while they're in the state that they are.

"Hey, come over here," I tell her patting down on a spot next to me on the bed.

She moves over next to me, and we lean against the wall. I pick up my cellphone and stick the headphones in it and pass one of the earbuds to her. She takes it and sticks it in her ear. I stick the other one in my own ear.

"I made a new playlist recently, want to take a listen?" I ask her.

She nods her head and I play it, "Piano music?" she asks hearing it.

"Yeah," I reply.

"I didn't know that you liked piano music," she says a bit confused.

"It's an ok thing to listen to every so often, although recently I've taken more of a liking to it," I tell her.

"Why's that?" she asks curiously.

"I don't know, guess I found a muse for it or something," I say smiling to myself.

She closes her eyes and listens to it, "It's really good."

"Yeah..." I agree.

The playlist in truth, is made up of recordings I did of Tweek's playing on the piano. His songs always helped to clear my head when I listened to him play, so I started to record a few of them here and there and made a mini playlist of them all.

Around 3:15am the yelling subsides and things quiet down. Karen passed out about an hour ago, to which I placed her down to sleep in my bed while I continued listening to the playlist on repeat. I look up and out my bedroom window at the night sky, just letting my thoughts flow with the music until I drift off to sleep again.

When I come to, it's daytime out. I look and see that Karen is gone and my cellphone is dead. I sit up and look for the phone's charger, and plug it into the wall. When the screen lights up, I see that it's almost 3:00pm. I realize I have about an hour before I have to go over to Tweek's place, so I get up and go about getting ready to leave.

When I finish getting ready, I take my cellphone and send a quick text to Tweek telling him I'm on my way there now. I get in my truck, start it, and head over.


	3. Chapter 3

I knock on the door and it opens a few seconds later. "Hey," I grin at Tweek as he opens the door.

He smiles back a bit, "Hey," and moves to the side letting me in.

"So what did you want to do today?" I ask as he shuts the door.

"I was thinking we could watch movies and talk and stuff," he tells me walking in to the living room, "that's what people do when they hangout right?"

I shrug, "Yup, pretty much."

I take my boots off and go and sit on the couch. Tweek walks over to the T.V holding a small stack of movies discs and puts one into the dvd player. I think briefly to myself that he must not hangout with people often. Actually, I rarely ever see him talk to anyone at school at all, usually he keeps to himself most of the time.

"Alright..." Tweek says after putting in the first dvd and backing up from the T.V with a remote in hand.

"What are we going to watch?" I ask.

"You'll see," he says taking a seat next to me on the couch.

I look at the T.V screen to see a menu appear saying 'Mamma Mia' on it. I have a sinking suspicion that a lot, if not all, of the movies in that stack are going to be similar to this one.

A few musical marathon hours later, we take a break from the movies and talk a bit.

"You really like musical theater stuff huh?" I ask.

Tweek nods his head, "Yeah, just something about it, the music in it I think, that just, inspires me to want to play more."

I smile, "That inspiration really shines through in your music, you play really beautifully."

"You... really think that?" he asks sheepishly.

"Yeah man, you play so freaking well!" I exclaim.

One of his hands tugs slightly on a small strand of hair at his neck. His gaze averts, as if thinking about something.

"I'm still surprised you're not entering into that music contest, if people heard you play I'm sure they would love it just as much as I do," I say.

He looks down moving his hand away from his neck to his lap, "I don't think so," he mumbles quietly.

"Well I do," I tell him, he glances at me, "when I listen to you play, it's like I feel like I'm somewhere else for a while, somewhere where I can just forget about reality for a bit and just let my mind float. I feel like I can just _be_ for once and not have to worry about the shittier things in life. The way you play, is really something extraordinary."

His eyes widen and his face seems almost redden a bit, he looks away, "Y-you're being way to nice about it! I don't think I'm really that good at it," he says shaking his head.

"I'm being honest," I tell him without hesitation.

He squeezes a hand in his other one, "Do you really think I should enter a contest like that?"

"Yes!" I exclaim, "Why don't you?"

He bites his bottom lip a bit, "I just feel like I wouldn't really be that good against someone who's much more skilled at it than I am. And that everyone would end up laughing at how bad I would be in comparison to them."

I place a hand on his back, "Tweek, you are amazing," I tell him, he looks at me wide-eyed again, "don't let your fears of the unknown stop you from going out there and doing something you're passionate about, because you never know."

I smile at him. He continues to stare at me wide-eyed for a few more seconds before going back to his usual expression than to one in thought. There's a few moments of silence before he speaks up.

"Alright, I'll give it a shot," he looks at me, eyes filled with a determination unlike I have ever seen on him before.

I smile, "That's the spirit."

His brows furrow together, "But I don't know what I should play."

"I'm sure whatever you choose to play will be good. But if you want I can try and help you pick one out," I suggest.

He nods, "Ok."

"Guess we'll have to wait until school Monday before you can get any practice in though," I think a loud.

And as if remembering something suddenly, Tweek gets up and heads for the stairs, "Wait one sec, I'll be right back," he tells me before rushing upstairs.

A few moments later, he returns carrying something. He sits back down on the couch and places the object he was carrying across his lap.

An electric keyboard.

"You have a keyboard?" I ask.

"Yup, it's no full on piano, like the one at school or in performances, but it's still nice to have," he smiles looking at it, "although, mom and dad said if I do well with my school marks, they would buy me a real piano," hearing him say that explains why he was freaking out about being late that morning for school. "Anyways, now I can get to work on picking out a song to play for the contest," he turns to his side and lifts up a file folder full of paper, "I brought some songs that I think I might do," he opens the file folder to reveal a bunch of music sheets. He takes one out and places it on top of the keyboard.

"Hmmm, let's try this one first," as soon as he starts to play the song, I recognize it instantly as the song A Thousand Miles. As he plays it more I find myself slowly starting to sing along with the melody. When it gets to the halfway point in the song, Tweek stops and looks at me.

"Awww, why did you stop? It was just getting to the good part," I say, "or was my singing too distracting?" I chuckle a bit.

He shakes his head, "N-no! Not at all! Actually... you sing really well, maybe you should enter the contest too."

I laugh, "Nah, I'm good, but thanks for saying you like my singing," I wink, "although it would be amusing if we were to go on stage, sitting in a makeshift car and sing that song while wearing dresses..." I muse at the idea in my head.

"H-huh?!" Tweek shrikes confused.

"It's nothing," I laugh, "nevermind, let's move on to another song."

He looks at me, still a bit confused then looks through the sheets of music once again.

A couple hours go by of doing this before I decide I should head home because of how late it's getting. I tell Tweek he can text me if he wants to at any time to talk, or if he needs help or something before I say my goodbye and head off home.

By the time Monday comes around, I have gotten over a hundred messages from Tweek, all about music he's been debating on choosing. Most of which were pictures of music sheets that I have no idea how to read. I kind of figured at a certain point, that he must be really nervous about doing the contest after sending the same music sheet to me about five times, then apologizing for it over and over. I just message him telling him to choose one that he likes a lot, to which he said, 'he likes all of them a lot' I decide to just let him vent out his worry through the texts and try my best to reassure him that he'll do great no matter what song he chooses.

He then listed everything that could humanly possible go wrong.

When lunch comes I head over to the music room like usual, when I walk down the empty hall that the room's in, I can already hear piano music playing. I get to the doorway of the room and see Tweek sitting at the piano but with a mess of papers scattered out all around him. I walk into the room and he stops playing when he spots me.

"Kenny!" he exclaims, "Quick- tell me," he looks back at the piano and I quirk an eyebrow, "is this tune better," he plays a quick tune, "or this one?" than another one.

"They both sound pretty nice," I tell him.

His brows furrow together, "Hrm, I need to know what one sounds better though, I can't make up my mind on which one to chose," he mumbles.

I think for a moment, "The first one sounded pretty good."

He looks at me, "Really?" he asks and I nod. He bites his bottom lip a bit as if thinking of something, "I see..."

I walk over to my usual spot and sit down, "Don't worry about it so much dude, just have fun," I open up my sketchbook that I brought along and remove the pencil from the book's ringed spine, "you shouldn't have to feel so stressed out about doing something that you're passionate about," I begin to sketch down on the paper a bit then look back up at Tweek, "it should bring you joy," I smile briefly before looking back down at my sketchbook.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Hey Kenny..." he pauses for a moment, I look up at him. "Do you think that," he pauses again.

"That what?" I ask.

"That you uh, could come and see me play in the music contest?" he asks.

I stare at him for a moment, blankly, then smile and let out a laugh.

He twitches slightly, "I-if not, that's ok-"

"Dude," I say interrupting him, "of course I'll go, I wanna be there to hear you play and see this breakthrough moment for you. To be honest, I thought it was a given that I'd go. Heck I'll even drive you there if you want."

He looks down at the piano keys and hunches his shoulders a bit, "You would?" he asks.

"Yeah!" I grin.

"Would you then? I'm not sure if my parents can..."

"You're not sure? How were you planning on getting there than?" I ask him.

"By bus," he answers.

I shake my head a bit, "I see, well I'll give you a lift there, I don't mind."

"Thanks," he replies quietly.

"Guess I'll go over to your place after school the day of and drive you over, it should be about a two hour drive. Unless we go right away after school," I say.

"It would be better to get me from my house. I'll need to get my stuff ready," he says.

"Alright then," I grin, " it's a date," I add with a joking wink.

I see Tweek's eyes widen and he quickly looks down at the piano keys, hunching his shoulders even higher. I find the action to be a bit endearing, in a cute sort of way. He starts to play a tune and I look back down at my sketchbook and continue to draw.

For the rest of the week, Tweek continues to go through songs, looking for one that he really likes and wants to share. When Friday comes, I get a text message from Tweek, asking if I can stop going to the music room for a while. When I ask why, I get a text back saying that he may of found a song he finally wants to do, but wants to work on it alone without any distractions because the music contest is fast approaching. It sounds reasonable enough, I guess, so I send a text back agreeing to it.

The weekend passes by and I don't hear anything from Tweek. I figure it's from him practicing on the song he's chosen so much. Then the days leading up to the contest go by and I still don't hear much from him. I start to wonder if he's ok or not. The day of the contest arrives and I'm sitting in the cafeteria at a lunch table with Stan, Kyle and Cartman. I haven't gotten a text yet from Tweek today, I frown looking down at my cellphone.

"So what's been going on with you lately Kenny?" Stan asks.

I look up and put my phone in my coat pocket, "Huh?" I respond.

"You've started sitting with us at lunch again, did something happen?" he adds.

"Oh, no, not really, just felt like spending some time with you guys because it's been a while," I say.

"Hmm, is that so?" Cartman says.

"Yes. That's so," I tell him.

"Oh really? Because I've heard rumors that you've been hanging around a familiar twitchy kid," Cartman says eyeing me.

"Twitchy kid?" Kyle asks, "Tweek?" he guesses confused a bit.

"Yeah, him," Cartman answers, "I've heard that you've been hanging around him a lot lately."

I arch a brow, "And?" I ask.

"And, I think that the only reason you're with us now is because you got kicked to the curb by him," He tells me.

"Kicked to the curb?" I repeat back.

"Yeah! You got dumped by him or something and now you're hanging with us because of it!" He accuses.

I just look at him.

"Cartman, don't you think that's a bit of a stretch?" Kyle asks, "I mean, who cares who he hangs out with, he can be with whoever he wants to be with."

"Yeah who cares? Let him do what he wants," Stan agrees.

"But you guuuuuys, don't you see? He's basically using us as a rebound for his tormented, broken, heart," Cartman whines to which I roll my eyes at, "and I sure as hell ain't nobody's rebound," he states crossing his arms.

"Yup, you're right man, I'm for sure real broken up over here, look at these invisible tears I'm shedding right now," I say sarcastically.

"Just eat your food and leave Kenny alone fat ass," Kyle says taking a sip of juice.

"OI!" Cartman exclaims.

"Besides who cares if he was here for a reason like that anyways, it's none of our business," Kyle adds.

"What do you mean by that?" I ask looking at him, "Are you saying that you actually believe him?"

"I'm just saying that, if you're here because of a relationship gone bad, that's fine," he explains.

"We're not dating," I tell him, "we're friends."

"Pfff," Cartman snorts.

"Like I said, it's fine," Kyle says.

I look at him in disbelief, "Dude, we're just friends. Nothing more. I don't even like guys!"

"Heh, right," Cartman scoffs and I glare at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask annoyed, to which Cartman just shrugs at.

"Kenny, we're not saying anything like that," Stan says.

"Are you sure? Because it sounds like it," I reply.

"Yeah dude, we're not, so calm down," Stan tells me.

I put an elbow on the table and lean against my hand letting out a small annoyed huff, "We're just friends...'" I mutter.

"Right, that's why you always stare at him in class," Stan says in a quiet voice.

"What was that!?" I demand looking at Stan.

"Nothing," he shrugs.

"No- tell me what you just said!" I order him.

"It's nothing!" he tells me, I narrow my eyes at him, "It's just that, you know..."

"What?" I ask.

"You look at him a lot during class and stuff," he says.

I scoff at that, "I do not."

"Yeah you do, and sometimes you smile to yourself while doing it too dude," he tells me.

"No I don't!" I tell him.

"Yes you do!" he says back.

"No. I. Don't. You're seeing things," I tell him annoyed.

"Is that so? Then why are you getting so defensive about this?" Cartman asks.

"I'm not!" I say, probably louder than necessary.

"Why do you keep checking your phone every few minutes?" Kyle asks.

"To check the time," I say, "besides you guys aren't the only ones I talk to you know," Kyle arch's an eyebrow.

"Then what about your sketchbook?" Stan asks.

The question catches me off guard a bit and it takes a moment for me to respond, "What about my sketchbook?" I ask back.

"I've seen what's in it Kenny, you know what I mean," he tells me.

Suddenly I feel my heart stop for a moment, "...You looked through it?" I ask him slowly.

"Not really, but I saw some of the things in it as you would flip through it in class and start drawing," he explains looking at me dead on and cocking his head a bit, "I saw who you were drawing."

By this point the words Stan were saying sounded muffled and distant as the only thing I could now hear was the beating of my heart in my eardrums.

Cartman looks from me to Stan and back, "His sketchbook? What do you mean?" Cartman asks confused, "Wait, you don't mean-"

I stand up and turn, "I have to go," I say before heading off.

The rest of the day goes by quietly as I avoid talking to neither, Stan, Kyle or Cartman, so as to not bring up the topic that was at lunchtime again.

I head home so I can drop off my school things, and look around for a bit of food before I go. I also decide to charge up my cellphone a bit too. I plug it into the wall and shoot a quick text to Tweek, asking him to let me know when he's ready to go. I then go to my playlists and play the makeshift one of Tweek's piano songs. I begin eating a half pop-tart I found while looking for food. As I listen to the songs come out of my cellphone's speaker, my thoughts swarm with what was said today during lunch.

I look to my bag and lean over and pick it up from the side of my bed. I unzip it and take out my sketchbook. I begin flipping through the pages, when I reach the last point I left off in it. I realize that I've drawn Tweek on a good number of those pages, all with varying poses and expressions. I start to wonder why I drew him so much. All I wanted to do was catch that calming demeanor before, but now, it seemed more like I wanted to capture every essence of him. But why? Why would I? I feel my heart beat a little bit faster at a sudden thought, then a loud buzzing sound goes off and I look down at my cellphone.

There's one new text message. From Tweek. I pick up my phone and read the message, ' _Sorry for not texting earlier today, been really preoccupied with mentally preparing for the contest tonight. I'm ready to go now though,'_ I stare at the message for a few more moments before sending him a text back telling him I'm on my way.

I remove my phone from the charger and put it in my pants pocket, then get up and put my coat on. As I head out of my room, I glance once more at my sketchbook laying on my bed before turning and shutting the door behind me.


	4. Chapter 4

When I arrive at Tweek's, he opens the door upon seeing me pull up in my truck and comes over to it carrying his keyboard in a long black carrier bag over his shoulder. He opens the passenger side door and gets in.

"Hey," he greets, taking off the bag and pulling the seat belt down over him.

I notice that he also has a thin blue file folder with him.

"Hey," I greet back, "you all ready to go?"

"I think so," he laughs nervously.

I smile a bit, "You'll do fine man,"

He nods with a small smile, "Um, thanks again for driving me there."

"No problem," I grin, "well then, off to Denver!"

I shift gears and pull away from the sidewalk and head off down the road.

…

About fifteen minutes go by of silence before it's broken by Tweek speaking up.

"Sorry for not texting or talking to you a whole lot these past few days, I've been really busy with preparing this song I'm going to play tonight," he says.

"It's cool man, I understand, no need for apologizes," I tell him.

"So you're... not mad or anything?" he asks hesitantly.

"Huh? No, why do you think I'm mad?" I ask confused.

"Well it's just that, you're being pretty quiet. Usually you like talking a lot about things," he explains.

"Oh, sorry I've just got some things on my mind is all," I say.

"Like what?" he asks.

I glance over at him then back at the road, "Just things, don't worry about it," I tell him. From the corner of my eye I can see him look down and fidget around with the file folder in his hands. "So what is the song you decided on playing?"

He looks up, "It's a surprise."

"A surprise?"

He smiles, "You'll see what I mean."

"Now I'm really curious," I laugh and move a hand to the radio, "want to listen to some music?"

"Sure," he nods.

I fiddle around with various radio stations before coming across one playing classical music. "Want me to leave it here?" I ask.

"If you want to, but Kenny," he says and I glance over at him, "I do listen to other types of music besides this you know," he chuckles.

"I just thought that this one would be more relaxing to you is all," I say smiling then turn to a rock station.

He laughs a bit, "I don't mind listening to songs like this, in fact, I find them fun to listen to at times."

"Fun?" I repeat.

"Yeah like, I'll listen to them and try to do a piano cover of them as a fun little exercise sometimes," he explains.

"Man, if that's so I would love to hear what some of these songs sound like as piano covers," I say.

"I'll play some for you at lunchtime then at school tomorrow."

"Sure, or I can come over on the weekend and you can play a bunch of them, so there's no rush," I suggest.

"Or that," he agrees.

I get to a turn on the road and move my hand over the turning signal to turn right, as I do my hand brushes past my keychain in the ignition causing it to jingle a bit. Tweek looks down at it.

"That's the charm I gave you," he says looking at it.

"Yeah, I liked it, so I thought I would add it to my keychain," I tell him.

"I'm glad that you liked it," he says smiling almost thoughtfully at it. He looks back up at the road ahead, "if you want I could make you more charms."

"Sure," I grin.

The rest of the ride there is mainly spent listening to songs on the radio and minor small talk. Along with spontaneous sing along song outbursts, mainly by me. Once we arrive in Denver and reach the contest location, I ask Tweek if it's the right place just to make sure. He nods showing me a map and paper with the address on it. I look at place we've arrived at again.

"Well then, this is a bit...Unexpected," I think aloud.

"I didn't think there would be so many cars," Tweek says, holding his keyboard tightly to his chest.

"Hey, I'm sure there's not as many people inside as there are cars," I say trying to reassure him and he smiles nervously.

We exit the truck and walk up the steps leading to the entrance and go in. When we enter there's a bunch of people walking around all over the place. Tweek looks around, hands clenched tightly, shoulders stiff and shaking a bit. He looks at me.

"Well, we've come all this way right? We should probably go and sign you up," I say.

"R-right," he stutters.

We head off down a hall and look for where to sign up. After we find it and Tweek is registered, we make our way to the line up backstage. I wait with him so he doesn't decide to suddenly take off running or something. About forty minutes go by till it's Tweek's turn next to go on stage. He looks out at the sea of people in seats from the side of the stage we're standing on, then backs up a bit from the edge of the curtains.

"I-I'm not sure if I c-can do this," he says taking in quick breaths.

"Yes you can," I tell him.

"Ngh- n-no, I don't think that I can d-d-do this," Tweek's breathing starts increasing drastically, "there's so many p-people!"

"And next up ladies and gentlemen," My attention is drawn to the host on stage, "from the small town of South Park is Tweek, Tweak."

"N-no! I can't do this- I can't do this!" Tweek says panicking. I look back at him to see him now tugging very hard at his hair, beginning to hyperventilate and twitching a lot.

"Tweek-"

"I- can't-" he interrupts me.

"Tweek!" I say loudly, cutting him off. He stops and looks at me, " You can do this, I know you can. You've been practicing and preparing for this almost everyday haven't you?" he nods his head shakily, I place my hands on his shoulders, "You're not going to turn back now are you? What about that surprise song you said you were going to play tonight? The one you spent days on? I was really looking forward to hearing what it is," he stops shaking and looks down a bit, "Tweek listen. I believe in you, now just believe in yourself."

He closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath then exhales it and looks up at me, an almost determined look takes over his face as his shoulders relax.

"You're right," he says softly.

"Tweek Tweak?" the host on stage repeats.

Tweek glances out towards the stage, "I'll be right here, you're not alone," I tell him and he looks back at me, " just pretend that you're at home or in the music room playing at lunch and it's just us."

He nods his head a bit and smiles at me, I let go of him and he slowly turns and heads out onto the stage.

"Ah, here he is ladies and gentlemen! Hello there!" the host greets him, "And what will you be preforming for us tonight?" the host asks as Tweek walks up to the mic stand set up on stage.

"A piano song that I wrote," he says into the mic.

"Ohhh, I see! Well then, I won't take up any more time, as I'm sure we would all love to hear it," the host says and makes their way off stage.

Tweek offers a sheepish smile to the crowd and takes off his bag and sets up his keyboard. Placing the music sheets from the blue file folder on it. He adjusts the mic so that it's facing down towards his piano a bit more. He glances over at me and I smile at him he smiles back and then looks out at the audience again.

"Um, so, this is a song I wrote recently titled, Thank You. It was written for someone who's encouraged me to try and breakaway and follow my passion and to not be afraid," Tweek tells them.

My eyes widen a bit at his announcement.

He moves his hands into position and closes his eyes as he begins to play the song. I listen closely to it. It's beautiful. There's something in the way in which he's playing this song that seems much more different to me. Maybe it's what he said before he started playing, or something else, but I'm not sure what it is. Suddenly the conversation I had earlier today at lunch comes back and a flash of images runs through my mind. All of time that I had spent with Tweek up until now. I continue watching him play, memorized by it, by him. I Suddenly get a feeling as if I've been hit by a massive brick wall of realization.

"Oh shit..." I say quietly to myself.

My heart begins to beat fast and I feel my face slightly burn. The song comes to an end and Tweek let's out another deep breathe.

"Thank you," he says bowing a bit, and a sudden roar of cheers and clapping breaks out.

He looks over at me grinning widely, and I swear I feel my heart literally stop in my chest because of it.

 _Shiiiiiiit!_ I think grabbing at my chest as if it will make the rapid beating in my chest stop somehow. After he finishes putting everything away, the host thanks him for coming out tonight and they announce the next contestant, Tweek walks back over to me.

"How did I do?" he asks me a bit timidly.

"Shit," I say in a quiet whisper to myself.

"What?" he asks tilting his head a bit.

 _Oh shit- I didn't mean to say that out loud!_ I think cursing at myself, "Good! You did really good!" I say hurriedly, hoping that he doesn't realize the thing I did not mean to say to his question.

He smiles, "You really think so?"

I feel my chest tighten more, _fuck- my heart,_ "Y-yeah, you did awesome," I say.

"Thanks," he says and glances away slightly, "I wrote it for you."

My goddamn heart skips another beat, "I kind of guessed that," I reply.

"Hey are you ok?" he asks concerned, "You're grabbing onto your chest..."

I swiftly move my hand away and down to my side, "I'm fine- I just- have a bit of acid reflux is all," I lie, he stares at me, "anyways, why don't we head down off stage and watch the rest of the show to see who wins?" I suggest.

"Sure," he agrees and we head off to look for seats.

One didgeridoo and twenty wannabe singers later, they announce the winner of the contest.

"And the winner of tonight's music extravaganza contest is..." the host announces, pausing for dramatic effect, " Dave Turner! From right here in Denver! With his beautiful violin music, congratulations!" the audience claps and cheers.

I look at Tweek, he shrugs, "It's alright, I didn't really want to win anyways. It was more about the experience for me," he tells me.

"And in second place the winner is, Tweek Tweak! From South Park Colorado with his beautiful piano music!" The host announces.

We both look at the stage, "There's a second place!?" we say at the same time.

The host continues on, "And in third..."

"I thought there was only one winner for the contest, I don't remember seeing any other places," I say.

"Neither do I," Tweek says.

"Well don't just sit there! Go man! Get up there!" I tell him and he gets up out of his seat and makes his way to the stage, through the loud claps of the crowd.

After Tweek gets his second place award and a prize of $5,000, the contest fully ends and we make our way out of the now emptying building. As we get to my truck a man in a suit approaches us.

"Excuse me, Tweek Tweak was it?" the man asks.

"Yeah?" Tweek responds.

"Sorry to stop you before leaving but," the man takes out a small card from his suit pocket, "I'm a music talent scout here in Denver for the School of Music Arts, and I was wondering if you'd consider wanting to attend our school's music program," he informs, handing Tweek the card.

Tweek's eyes widen, "Oh-well-I" he stutters out.

"You don't need to answer right now but I thought you might like to know. Our school would love to have someone as talented as you be a student there. Please give us a call at anytime and let us know," the man tells him, before giving a nod and heading off.

Tweek looks down at the card, "Wow..."

"Yeah..." I say in the same tone as Tweek, "What are you going to do?"

He looks up at me and puts the card away in his pocket, "I don't know... think about it I guess."

"I guess," I repeat back and open the door to my truck and get in, Tweek follows the same action on his side and gets in. "Well if there are other scouts like that guy here, it kind of makes a bit more sense why there are so many people here than."

"Mhmm..." Tweek responds quietly still in a bit of shock at what just happened.

I start the truck and head off back to South Park.

When I arrive back at Tweek's house, it's around 1am. His parent's car is in the driveway now from getting back home after work a few hours ago. Before he gets out to leave though I stop him.

"Tweek... why did you write that song for me?"

He looks over at me, then off to the side as if thinking of something, "Well you've been really supportive of me, trying to get me to do new things. Like that contest and hanging out with me when you don't really even need to. You always say how you like how I play and that it helps you to forget for a while, so I thought about writing a song for you as a way of saying thank you for being there," he tells me.

I feel my chest get tighter at that, "I see..."

"To be honest, the song was the one you found that one time in my room from that book, the unfinished music score. I had given up trying to finish it but when I saw it again after looking for a song to do and knowing you more, I got the inspiration to finish it up. I wanted it to be for you. That's what I thought while working on it," he looks at me sheepishly, "I hope that doesn't sound to cheesy."

I shake my head a bit, "It's not," I smile at him, "It's actually a really sweet thing of you to do. No one's ever done something like that for me before..." I tell him. He continues to look at me and I start to feel a bit awkward under his gaze. "Man is it getting late or what? I'm starting to get quite a bit sleepy over here," I say in an attempt to change the topic.

"Oh- right! It is pretty late," Tweek says looking away to the time on my truck's radio, "and there's school tomorrow too!" he exclaims, he opens the door and gets out of my truck, "See you later Kenny!" and closes the door, rushing off to his house. When he opens the front door of his house, he turns and waves one last time before going in and closing it.

"See you later Tweek..." I say quietly smiling to myself before heading off home.


	5. Chapter 5

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm hanging out at Tweek's to hear him play piano covers of rock songs. We're sitting in his living room and Tweek decides to take a short coffee break. He heads into the kitchen to make his hot beverage and I look around the room, my eyes fall on to a familiar green feathered creature. I get up and walk over to it.

"Hey there Mimic," I coo softly, "how are you doing today?"

The bird tilts it's head up at an angle as if inspecting me. I smile at him and go to my thin book bag that I brought with me today and take out my sketchbook and pencil. I walk back over to the bird.

"Mind if I sketch you?" I ask the winged creature.

It lets out a piano like sounding noise and I smile and open my sketchbook to a blank page and start drawing on it. I look from the bird and to the sketchbook and back as I sketch it's shape out. I start to get a bit lost in thought while doing this. My thoughts wondering to the recent events that happened on the night of the music contest. Tweek playing, the audience cheering, him smiling, my heart racing, Tweek getting an award, us heading back to the truck and- an uneasy feeling pushes it's way up in me. One that I had been trying my best to push away and bury. To be honest, I was really happy for Tweek when I heard that he was good enough to be wanted in an arts school. But than another thought had crept it's way up into the back of my mind, a thought that made me not so happy about it.

I let out a sigh, "Looks like you owner might be heading off in the near future," I say quietly to the green feathered bird, "just when I found out that I like Tweek, he may be leaving," I laugh softly to myself shaking my head.

"I like Tweek," the parrot suddenly squawks.

All of my attention jolts to it, "Oh shit- no no no, forget what you just heard!" I tell it.

"I like Tweek," it squawks again.

"Shhhhh! No- shut up!" I say in a loud hushed tone, praying it will be quiet.

"I like Tweek!" it squawks louder as I shake the cage.

"So help me god, do not make me use this on you," I say holding up my pencil and eyeing the bird, it eye's me back for a moment, and I narrow my eyes at it daring it to speak.

A silence falls between us.

"I like Tweek!" it then squawks out.

"You son of a-"

"Kenny?" A familiar voice from behind me says. I whirl around to see Tweek standing there, holding a mug filled with hot coffee and wearing a confused expression on his face. "What are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh-uh, nothing," I reply, trying to hide the birdcage behind me. He looks at the pencil in my hand, then at the sketchbook, "Oh these? I was- just trying to do a little sketch of Mimic is all," he stares at me and I feel my heart pace pick up.

"Oh," he says and smiles a bit.

I let out a sigh as he turns around and starts heading over to the couch when, "I like Tweek," is squawked out.

He turns around, "What?" he looks at me and I feel my heart begin to beat rapidly, "What was that?" he asks.

"What was what?" I repeat back like I have no idea what he's talking about, "I-I didn't hear anything-"

"I like-" the feathery traitor goes to squawk again and I shake it's cage interrupting it.

"Nope-nothing!" I laugh nervously.

Tweek looks at me, and as if on que the bird squawks out another, "I like Tweek."

Tweek's eye's widen, "What did mimic just say?"

"Huh? What are you talking about? I didn't hear anything!" I say panicked, hoping and praying that the bird will suddenly lose it's voice, or drop dead.

"I like Tweek-" the bird starts again.

I turn around grabbing onto the bird cage shaking it, "Gah! Will you shut up!?" I yell at it. My grip on my sketchbook loosens and it falls to the floor, opening on a different page. Before I have a chance to get it, Tweek picks it up, his eyes fixed on the page it's opened to.

"Is this... me?" he asks eyes still fixed on the page.

I go to grab my sketchbook from him but he moves back and places it on his forearm that's holding the mug and flips through it with his free hand.

"These are all of me... why are there so many drawings of me?" he asks now looking up at me.

I take the chance to grab my sketchbook back, although, it won't do much good. He continues to look at me with wide eyes and I look away.

"Kenny?" he questions.

"I like Tweek, I like Tweek, I like Tweek," the bird keeps on repeating.

My grip on my sketchbook tightens, my face- no, my whole body feels like it's on fire and my heart feels like it will burst at any moment and stop from the embarrassment of this whole situation. I look up at Tweek, he's still staring at me, waiting for my response. I smile a little and force a nervous laugh.

"Guess the secret's out," I say in a quiet voice.

The next thing I know, Tweek's mug is falling to the floor and and a pair of hands grab the sides of my face and something is pressing up against my lips. It takes me a moment to register what's happening and when I do I close my eyes and kiss back. The bird continues repeating my words over and over in the background of my now far away mind. Tweek's hands glide down my neck and to my shoulders, he pulls back breaking the kiss.

"S-sorry, I uh- just, I don't know what came over me so suddenly. You said that, and all I wanted to do was kiss you," He averts his gaze slightly, and I can see that his cheeks are flushed quite a bit now, as I'm sure mine are too.

"It's ok," I say, " a bit unexpected, but, ok," he chuckles and looks at me, I suddenly start to feel a hot burning sensation, "hot," I mumble out.

Tweek looks at me confused, "Huh?"

"Hot!" I say aloud in pain.

I look down at my foot and see that the coffee from Tweek's now chipped mug is spilling out all over the floor and around my foot, my sock soaking up the hot beverage, I move my foot away fast from the hot liquid.

"Oh- jeez- s-sorry!" Tweek exclaims.

I lean all my weight onto my other leg and keep my burning foot from touching the floor. "It's alright," I say wincing, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Here- sit down on the couch," he says and guides me over to it.

I sit back down and remove my sock, the relief of the burning sensation is almost instant. Tweek heads towards the kitchen.

"I'll get a cold cloth for that hold on," he tells me before rushing off into the kitchen. I look at my foot, it's a bit swollen from the coffee. Tweek rushes back out holding a wet cloth, "Here put your foot up," he motions for me to place my burned foot on the couch. I turn to the side and place it on the couch, he places the cold cloth on it, "I-I'm so sorry about that Kenny," he apologizes again.

"Don't be," I tell him, " it felt nice."

He arches an eyebrow "It felt nice that coffee was burning your foot?" he asks confused.

"No, not that," I laugh.

"Than wha-" as if realizing it, he stops himself from finishing the question, "o-oh," his cheeks flush again, " I um, better go and clean up the coffee before it stains," he gets up and heads back into the kitchen once more to get what I guess is something to clean up the coffee with.

After he cleans up the split drink he comes back over to me to see how I'm feeling.

"How's your foot doing?" he asks.

"It feels better than it was before," I reply.

"I see, that's good," he says quietly.

I move my foot off of the couch and motion for him to sit down. He doesn't move for a few seconds, hesitating and biting his lip nervously, he eventually walks over and sits down next to me. There's a bit of an awkward silence that arises between us. Tweek fiddles with his thumbs a bit.

"Are you going to play anymore piano rock covers?" I ask in an attempt to break the silence.

He looks at me and I eye the electric keyboard that's sitting on the small coffee table in front of the couch. He looks at it and picks it up.

"S-sure," he mumbles. He goes through some music sheets and places one in front of him. Just as he's about to press down on a key, he suddenly looks at at me. "When did you start to like me?"

It catch's me off guard a little bit, he looks at me waiting for a response and I take a couple of seconds before I reply.

"When we were at the music contest and I saw you playing that song you wrote for me on stage..." I tell him, "although it could've been before that, I only realized it while watching you play that night."

"Is that why there are so many drawings you did of me?" he asks and I feel my face heat up.

"Well at first, I liked the calm expression and demeanor around you when you played. I wanted to try and catch it down on paper, but then I found myself trying to draw down many of your expressions instead of just the one," I tell him, "it's probably a weird thing of me to do," I let out an uneasy laugh.

Tweek smiles slowly, "I see, so that's why... it's not weird, you were just trying to capture something that spoke to you. I can understand that," he tells me and I relax a bit and smile back. "But you know, you could've just asked me to pose for you."

I shake my head, "No, it wouldn't have been the same. I was trying to capture you in the moment," I look down at my sketchbook, "although I guess I could ask you to help me with other types of poses now if you want."

"Other types?" he asks.

I look back up at him with a suggestive grin. His eyes widen and all his fingers that were hovering lightly over the piano keys, press down on multiple ones at once. The sudden loud sound of so many notes at once causes us both to flinch. And he quickly takes his hands off the keyboard.

"I'm only kidding," I tell him through bits of laughter. He looks down at the keyboard and my laughing dies down. Another silence falls on us."I'm going to miss you."

"Miss me?" he asks glancing back at me.

"Yeah, if you go to that arts school, I'll miss you," I explain.

"Oh..." he says quietly.

"But I'm also really happy for you, you get the chance to go and perhaps even live out your dream if you do go."

"Do you want me to go?" he asks.

"To be honest... I don't want you to leave after I just found out how I feel towards you but, this is something that you love doing and you may go somewhere in life besides being stuck here in this small town," I smile at him, "I think you should follow that dream of yours."

There's a pause as he thinks about what I said to him, "What if you were to come with me?"

"Come with you?"

"Yeah come and live in the city with me."

"Tweek..." I trail off.

"It's just that, I don't want to leave you behind. Not after finding out that you feel the same way..." he explains, and a sad smile crosses my face.

I place a hand on his back. "The music scout said you didn't need to answer right away, so I'm sure there's still time. It would probably be at the start of next year if you do go, so we still have quite a bit of time together. Let's enjoy it for now, and worry about that when the time comes."

He nods slightly and leans forward hugging me.

I pat his back. "We'll figure something out... " I tell him.


	6. Chapter 6

_**-A Year Later-**_

...

I awake in my room to my cellphone's buzzard alarm going off. I groan and reach for it, turning it off. I sit up looking at the date displayed on the screen.

"Last day," I mumble.

I get a text message then, and smile seeing who sent it. I read it then send one back, and with that I get up and get ready for the long day ahead of me.

I arrive at school with my family. Family being my mom, sister and brother. Shortly later, I see my friends arrive too and wave at them. We enter the building and our families head off to the auditorium as me and my friends head off to the backstage area.

"I can't believe that this is it you guys," Cartman says.

"Personally I'm glad that I won't have to see your fatass anymore," Kyle says flatly.

"Oh yeah!? Well- the feeling is mutual!" Cartman yells.

"Even on the last day, they still can't seem to just get along," Stan sighs shaking his head, he looks at me," so you're really going to go through with it?"

"Yup!" I grin, "I've planned it out."

"And that is?" Stan asks.

"After the ceremony's done I'm going home and putting everything I've packed away in to my truck then leaving here," I tell him.

"Where are you going to stay?" he asks.

"In an apartment with him. I've saved up enough money from that part time job of mine to last a good three to four months while I look for work there," I explain.

"Oh, you're going to live with him?"

I nod my head, "Yup."

"Guess that means no more long two hour drives on the weekend to go and see him anymore," he laughs a bit, "what about Karen?"

"Kevin said he'd watch out for her for now. And she has friends who she can turn to if things look bad. But we're going to see if there's a way at some point for her to come live with us when things stabilize a bit more, so that she may have a better chance at a better education there," I say.

"You've got it all figured out don't you man?" he grins.

"I'd like to hope so," I say grinning back, "I'll be able to make it in time for his first real show too."

"Nice," Stan says.

"What are you guys talking about?" Cartman asks, his attention now shifting to us and away from Kyle.

"About what Kenny's going to do after the graduation ceremony is over," Stan says.

"Oh yeah, you still going to go through with that?" Kyle asks and I nod my head in response, "Well good luck to you then, hope it all turns out ok."

"Thanks," I say.

A buzzing goes off in my pocket and I take my cellphone out and look down at it. A new text message greets me, I read it.

 _'Miss you.'_

"Alright everyone get in your places!" A teacher instructs us.

And everyone starts to go and stand in their designated spots in line. I read the message over once more, smiling, then send a reply back before putting my phone away and going to my spot in line.

 _'See you soon.'_

 **END**

* * *

 _ **A/N: And that's the end folks. Sorry that this final chapter was so short, but I hope you enjoyed reading this story. I want to thank all those that liked and reviewed this story. And those that stuck with it until the end.**_

 _ **Thank you, and take care!**_


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